Carinata and Camelina: Two cash cover crops boosting the bioeconomy in Europe. The CARINA project

Europe urgently needs domestically produced, low indirect land-use change (iLUC) feedstocks to support a sustainable bio-based economy while enhancing biodiversity, reducing carbon footprints, and maintaining farm profitability under climate change. The Horizon Europe–funded CARINA project (launched in 2022) addresses this challenge by introducing two resilient Brassicaceae oilseeds, carinata (Brassica carinata) and camelina (Camelina sativa), into diversified and intensified cropping systems. These low-input crops are well adapted to a wide range of European pedo-climatic conditions, including marginal soils where oilseed rape is declining. CARINA demonstrates intercropping, relay, and double-cropping systems across nine countries in Europe and North Africa. First-year field results from Italy and Serbia show that camelina performs well as a winter cover crop enabling double cropping with sunflower and sorghum, while carinata is suitable for intercropping with legumes. Beyond agronomic performance, both crops contribute to biodiversity enhancement, nutrient recycling, soil carbon sequestration, and the development of multiple bio-based value chains.